Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech

Getty Images

A danger to himself, and others Virginia Tech, Richmond, May 11, 2007-- Three weeks after the April 16, 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, people walk along the edge of a large makeshift memorial on the campus. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and himself using two guns he had bought despite his documented history of mental illness. Cho had passed a background check and bought one gun from a store and a second online despite having been deemed mentally defective by a Virginia court. Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005. He had been ordered to have outpatient mental health treatment and should have been barred from buying the two guns he used. But Virginia never forwarded the information to the national background check system.

A danger to himself, and others Virginia Tech, Richmond, May 11, 2007-- Three weeks after the April 16, 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, people walk along the edge of a large makeshift memorial on the campus. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and himself using two guns he had bought despite his documented history of mental illness. Cho had passed a background check and bought one gun from a store and a second online despite having been deemed mentally defective by a Virginia court. Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005. He had been ordered to have outpatient mental health treatment and should have been barred from buying the two guns he used. But Virginia never forwarded the information to the national background check system. (Getty Images)

A danger to himself, and others Virginia Tech, Richmond, May 11, 2007-- Three weeks after the April 16, 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, people walk along the edge of a large makeshift memorial on the campus. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and himself using two guns he had bought despite his documented history of mental illness. Cho had passed a background check and bought one gun from a store and a second online despite having been deemed mentally defective by a Virginia court. Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005. He had been ordered to have outpatient mental health treatment and should have been barred from buying the two guns he used. But Virginia never forwarded the information to the national background check system.